The USPSA Handgun Nationals for 2009 are complete.   The back-to-back events were hosted by the Desert Sportsman’s Rifle & Pistol Club in Las Vegas, Nevada.  The second o f the two National Events crowned champions in Limited, Limited 10 and Revolver categories.  Congratulations to our new National Champions!

2009 USPSA Limited Champions are:
Jessie Abbate & Ted Puente

2009 USPSA Limited-10 Champions are:
Randi Rogers & Dave Sevigny

2009 USPSA Revolver Champions are:
Annette Aysen & Cliff Walsh

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The dust has [temporarily] settled in Las Vegas. The 2009 USPSA Open & Production Handgun Nationals are history! Congratulations to our 2009 National Victors!

2009 USPSA Open National Champions are:
Megan Francisco & Max Michel Jr.

With the USPSA Handgun Nationals just a few days away, we’re recapping the top shooters of the year, based on the previously hosted USPSA Area Matches around the country.  Unfortunately, Area 2 & 4 aren’t scheduled until later in 2009, but we still have plenty of Area Champions to put upon our pedestal!  Congratulations to all of our Area Winners!

We are also sending well wishes and good luck to each and every woman who is headed to Las Vegas this week for our USPSA Back-To-Back National Championships! And remember, what happens in Vegas …  stays in Vegas!   (Except for what happens at the range.  We’ll proudly be posting updates and results for all categories of each match via Twitter, Facebook, WomenOfUSPSA.com & right here on the blog.)

If you ever get a chance to compete at one of these top-notch Area Matches, by the way, grab it! The experience, effort, creativity and organization that go into these events are practically unmatched!

2009 USPSA Area Match Championship Results – to date:

AREA 1 – Held June 18 through 21 in Parma, Idaho at the Parma Rod & Gun Club. Match Director – Tim Egan
LIMITED – Lisa Munson 1st, Christie King 2nd
LIMITED-10 – Dorrie Davis 1st
OPEN - Jenny Chu 1st,  Carrie Homburg 2nd
PRODUCTION – Carrie Jamrogowicz 1st, Irina Ionescu 2nd
SINGLE STACK – Laura Seurer 1st, Nancy Marrs 2nd

AREA 2 – Begins November 12, 2009 at  Rio Salado Sportsmans Club in Mesa, Arizona.  Match Directors – Paul Caudill & Bob LaMarca

AREA 3 – Held July 30 through August 2 in Omaha, Nebraska.  Hosted by the Eastern Nebraska Practical Shooters.  Match Director – Chris Davies
LIMITED – Nancy Huspek 1st, Gail McLean 2nd
OPEN - Sue VanBlaricum 1st, Bobbi Wagner 2nd
PRODUCTION – Carrie Jamrogowicz 1st, Lisa Johnson 2nd

AREA 4 – Begins October 8, 2009 at the Double Tap Ranch in Wichita Falls, Texas. Match Director – Ken Cobb

AREA 5 – Held June 19 through 21 at the South Kent Sportsmans Club in Dorr, Michigan.  Match Director – Carl Provan
LIMITED – Gail McLean 1st, Susan Powel 2nd
OPEN - Doni Spencer 1st, Sarah Irish 2nd
PRODUCTION – Carrie Carlson 1st
REVOLVER - Sue Irish 1st
SINGLE STACK -TD Roe 1st, Alma Lenard 2nd 

AREA 6 – Held April 17 through 19 at the South River Gun Club in Covington, Georgia.  Match Director – our very own Cindy Noyes!
LIMITED – Jessie Abbate 1st, Tracy Iradi 2nd
LIMITED-10 – Randi Rogers 1st, Kay Miculek 2nd
OPEN - Megan Francisco 1st, Kaci Cochran 2nd
PRODUCTION – Beth Wingfield 1st, Melita Ellington 2nd
REVOLVER -Sue Irish 1st
SINGLE STACK – Nancy Huspek 1st 

AREA 7 – Held August 5 through 9 in Fulton, New York at Pathfinder Fish & Game (which is Julie G’s original home-town range).  Match Director – Milford Lovett
LIMITED – Donna Major 1st, Kathie Sierpina 2nd
LIMITED-10 – Caron Brooks 1st, Evelyn Freeman 2nd
OPEN - Rebecca Jones 1st, Sheila Brey 2nd
REVOLVER -Sue Jenks 1st, Jacqueline Scott 2nd

AREA 8 – Held August 27 through 30 at the Fredericksburg Rod & Gun Club in historic Fredericksburg, Virginia. Match Director – Lew Walker
LIMITED – Jessie Abbate 1st, Tracy Iradi 2nd
LIMITED-10 – Caron Brooks 1st
OPEN - Rebecca Jones 1st, Megan Francisco 2nd
PRODUCTION -Randi Rogers 1st, Tori Nonaka 2nd
REVOLVER -Sue Irish 1st
SINGLE STACK – Tracy Deegan 1st

Well, that’s a wrap!  We’ll close our Road to the Nationals coverage by congratulating the 2008 USPSA Ladies Handgun National Champions:

• Open National Champion – Rebecca T. Jones
• Limited National Champion – Jessie Abbate
• Limited-10 National Champion – Jessie Abbate
• Single Stack National Champion – Lisa Munson
• Production National Champion – Randi Rogers
• Revolver National Champion – Annette Aysen
   

The 2009 Steel Challenge World Speed Shooting Championships in Piru, CA is the last major event in our coverage of the Road to the Nationals.  Held August 13-16, the best steel shooters in the world hit the range to compete in the eight challenge Steel Challenge courses of fire.  Check out our coverage of the S&W US Steel Shoot Nationals for more info about the courses of fire and crowned national champions.

There were several new faces from USPSA at the match this year.  Junior Shooter Tori Nonaka made her Steel Challenge debut in Production and Rimfire divisions.  Tori is definitely one to watch out for in the future!  Also new to competing at The Challenge this year was Tasha Hanish.  Tasha burst onto the USPSA scene as a junior over a decade ago.  Always a top contender, she took several years off to start a family. Jumping back on the competition circuit full time this season, she has a new sponsor, blog and outlook on competing. Welcome back Tasha!

We were sad to see that two of the best lady open shooters in the world, Athena Lee and Rebecca T. Jones were not able to make it to this year’s Challenge.  Athena is no stranger to the winner’s circle at Steel Challenge, winning in 2002 & 2003.  She is also a two-time winner of the coveted IPSC Ladies World Title.  Rebecca is a real contender in Steel Challenge as well and has placed in the top 5 at both the Steel Challenge and the S&W US Steel Nationals. She is also the reigning 2008 USPSA Open Ladies National Champion.  We missed both their amazing skills and charming personalities on the range this year.  We hope to see you next year!

What should you know about this year’s Steel Challenge?
Well, simply the women were power houses! Jessie Abbate was brilliant.  She dominated in every division she competed in – Open, Limited, Rimfire and Steel Master.  To say she won Top Lady is just the tip of the iceberg.  We felt Jessie’s performance was so amazing that only she could put it into words and jumped at the opportunity to interview Jessie.

Women of USPSA: First of all, CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Jessie: Aw, thanks!

Women of USPSA: So, in all how many world records did you shatter at this year’s Steel Challenge?

Jessie: In all I think it was 21.  Let’s see… 5 Open Stage Records, records on stages and overall in both Rimfire and Limited and then the overall Ladies Open Record.

Women of USPSA: Winning the S&W US Steel Nationals earlier this year, did you do anything different to prepare for Steel Challenge?

Jessie: I did.  I changed my training approach.  One thing I focused on was being able to shoot a match cold.  I practiced shooting the full match and that really gave me an idea of what I could do.

Women of USPSA: Did you ever imagine you would do so well at the Steel Challenge?

Jessie: As a shooter, we all hope to win and win big.  So yes, I hoped to, but I never dreamed it.  I have broken the 90 second barrier in practice, but that’s practice.  To break 100 seconds in the match was something I felt I could do and was a good goal.

Women of USPSA: 100 seconds is a great feat! That also explains why you were moved to tears on the range after learning you broke 95 seconds.

Jessie: I couldn’t believe it at first.  I knew I shot well, but to do that.  It’s something that will always stay with me.

Women of USPSA: How do you feel heading into the USPSA Nationals after such a phenomenal performance?

Jessie: Well I am jacked about winning Steel Challenge, but I am careful not to get overconfident.  You can’t take anything for granted.  Steel Challenge is stand and shoot match.  In USPSA you have so many factors.  I shot a good match at Area 8 as a warm up and it gave me some great feedback on what to work on.

We’d like to thank Jessie for taking the time to talk with us. Jessie’s performance at the Steel Challenge was an out-of-the-ballpark homerun!  She not only broke women’s world records, she placed a phenomenal 18th Overall in the combined match results.

Here are the results for the Top 3 Women in Open, Limited, Rimfire & Steel Master:

Open:

1. Jessie Abbate – 94.94  (14th Place Open)
2. Kay Miculek – 104.14
3. Julie Golob – 106.87

Limited:

1. Jessie Abbate – 104.79 (9th Overall)
2. Kay Miculek – 122.19
3. Tasha Hanish – 141.66

Rimfire:

1. Jessie Abbate – 77.95 (6th Overall)
2. Kay Miculek – 82.93 (8th Overall)
3. Tori Nonaka – 90.93 (High Junior)

Steel Master:

1. Jessie Abbate
2. Kay Miculek
3. Randi Rogers

New to The Challenge this year was USPSA Production Division featuring production legal guns, holsters and 10 round capacity.  Julie Golob also had a great performance posting impressive scores that would have placed her 2nd Woman in the faster Limited Division. She won the Ladies Production World Title and finished with a total time of 116.61, 2nd Place Overall behind the sport’s legendary Rob Leatham.

Top 3 Women in Production:

1. Julie Golob – 116.61 (2nd Overall)
2. Randi Rogers – 127.90 (3rd Overall)
3. Tori Nonaka – 132.59 (6th Overall)

In Revolver, Molly Smith and IRC champion Annette Aysen faced off in Iron Sight Revolver.  Molly placed 8th Overall with a 142.76 that was enough to win over Annette’s 12th Overall finish and 149.05 seconds.  Janet Leach earned the win in Optical Revolver with 164.40 over fellow competitor Krista Terry.

We’d also like to congratulate Janae Sarabia for winning Pre-Teen Junior Female in Open Division and Molly Smith in Pre-Teen Junior Female in Rimfire.  These young ladies are an inspiration to junior shooters everywhere!

What happens when you combine Steel Challenge, Bianchi and USPSA?  PRO AM!  The Pro Am, hosted by the US Shooting Academy in Tulsa, OK, is an all steel event.   Shooters face arrays of steel targets in run-n-gun stages with predetermined “par” times.  The number of steel shot down on the stage after the end buzzer sounds = the competitor’s score.  Unique to this event, the Pro’s are those shooters who have finished in the Top 10 Overall of any USPSA Open/Limited/Production Nationals in the last three years. Everyone else is classified as an Amateur and is ranked based on classifications in the various action shooting sports.

Ten women competed in the Amateur Limited Division (with some big names in attendance)…

• Reigning USPSA Ladies Limited & Limited-10 National Champion – Jessie Abbate
• 2004 USPSA Ladies Limited National Champion – Carina Randolph
• First and Only USPSA Five Division Ladies National Champion – Julie Golob

In a field of 160 amateur competitors, Jessie had an impressive performance.  She finished 6th Overall and 2nd A Class easily claiming the Ladies Limited Title as well.  Julie Golob earned 2nd Woman and finished in the Top 20 Overall.

Rounding out the Top 5 Ladies:

1. Jessie Abbate – 179 Plates
2. Julie Golob – 167 Plates
3. Carina Randolph – 153 Plates
4. Diana Leidorff – 147 Plates
5. Tammy Sharp – 131 Plates

Traditionally an iron sight only match, this year competitors were allowed to compete with their open guns.  76 Amateurs, 4 of these women, competed in the Open Division.  Julie Golob opted to shoot her Limited gun again and placed an impressive 26th overall against open blasters.  She also finished 2nd behind Open Ladies Champion Jessie Abbate.  Jessie was not only top lady, but also placed 1st in A Class and finished a stellar 3rd Overall!  With this double win, Jessie confirmed that when it comes to shooting steel, she is not only a dominating force in the women’s category, but is a top contender against the men.

June 5-7, 2009 the best revolver shooters in the world met to compete in the 18th Annual Smith & Wesson International Revolver Championships (IRC) in sunny San Luis Obispo, CA.   The match consisted of 12 challenging courses of fire all with wheel guns, of course!

In iron sight revolver divisions, Annette Aysen has been synonymous with Ladies Revolver Champion for years in several shooting sports including ICORE, USPSA, Steel Challenge and American Handgunner. It was no surprise when she once again dominated at this year’s IRC.  Annette placed 21st overall in Limited and 5th place A Class. Her total score of 359.34 seconds was over 11 seconds faster than 2nd Woman, Lisa Farrell – a revolver champion many times over herself.

Rounding out the Top 5 Limited Ladies:

1. Annette Aysen
2. Lisa Farrell
3. Sharon Dickey
4. Tabatha Averyt
5. Molly Smith (Junior)

Making her debut at the IRC, Julie Golob competed in the Open Division.   Shooting a full 25 seconds faster than 2nd Place Lady Beate Sexton, Julie added Women’s Open Revolver Champion to her list of many titles.

Rounding out the Top 5 Ladies in Open:

1. Julie Golob
2. Beate Sexton
3. Rhonda Skelton
4. Janae Sarabia (Junior)
5. Janet Leach

We’d also like to extend congratulations to the upcoming junior ladies talent Janae Sarabia, Rachel Crow and Molly Smith!  Way to go, girls!

OK… so we know that this isn’t a USPSA sanctioned event, but several top shooters in USPSA participate in the most accuracy intense of the action shooting sports.  The NRA Bianchi Cup is one of the most enduring matches on the circuit and this year marked the 30th Anniversary.  The Bianchi Cup is just 192 rounds, but every one of them counts.  Like “Virginia Count” scoring, there are no make up shots at “The Cup.” Competitors draw from the holster and shoot at tombstone-shaped targets with a 4” X-Ring.  There are four events; the Practical, Barricade, Plates and Moving Target.

Vera Koo has reigned as Ladies National Champion an amazing eight times starting in 1999.  Other USPSA Ladies Champions have also joined the ranks of Bianchi winners – Judy Woolley, Sharon Zaffiro (Edington) and Julie Golob. Taking a year and a half off from shooting to start a family, Julie Golob returned to the 2009 Bianchi Cup after her first Cup win in 2007.  At this year’s Bianchi Cup, Julie shot the third highest women’s score ever,  a 1907 with 138x. Her performance also earned her the highest classification in the sport, NRA Action Pistol High Master and the coveted High Woman Award.  We should all be inspired by Julie’s accomplishments.  Julie G. has won more National titles (combining IDPA, USPSA, Bianchi, IRC, & Steel Challenge) than any other female competitor past and present.  Welcome back, Julie!

Rounding out the top 5 women were:

1. Julie Golob – 1907, 138x (19th Overall Open Division, 3rd Place Master)
2. Helen Jeavons – 1893, 133x (Reigning World Champion)
3. Vera Koo – 1866, 150x (8-Time Bianchi Cup Champion)
4. Jessie Abbate – 1865, 111x (Winner of the Women’s Speed Shoot Off Event)
5. Tiffany Piper – 1850, 124x (Junior Talent from New Zealand)

New this year to the NRA Bianchi Cup – Production Division! Two USPSA Women’s Champions Randi Rogers and Annette Aysen squared off for top woman honors.  Randi earned her first Bianchi Cup win in this division with a score of 1740, 93x, enough to place 5th Overall! Both Randi and Annette’s performances will hopefully inspire more women to shoot Production next year.

We also think it’s pretty awesome that two cousins competed in the Junior Category this year.  They also teamed up and took third place Junior Team.  Congratulations to Theresa and Sydney Surgi!  Keep up the GREAT shooting!

One of our own Women of USPSA, Kippi Leatham, wrote up a fantastic article on the 2009 Springfield Armory Single Stack Classic/USPSA Single Stack Nationals for Action Shooting Podcast.  We weren’t surprised at all to discover that Kippi works a pen just as well as she pulls the trigger. Read it here.

The nationals were once again held at PASA Park in Barry, IL April 29 through May 2nd, 2009.  After 20 challenging courses of fire with “old school” single stack 1911’s, it was a close race between Lisa Munson and Kippi Leatham. Both of these ladies have won the Single Stack National title before (and between the two of them have accumulated USPSA national titles in the double digits – WOW). In a nail biter finish, Lisa edged out Kippi by just .56% and finished 46th overall.  This marks Lisa’s 2nd consecutive Single Stack Ladies National Title.

Rounding out the talented Top 8 were:

1. Lisa Munson – Winner of Stages 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15 & 20
2. Kippi Leatham – Winner of Stages 6, 17 & 18
3. Kay Miculek – Winner of Stages 9 & 11
4. Julie Golob – Winner of Stages 14 & 19
5. T.D. Roe – Winner of Stages 5 & 16
6. Nancy Huspek –Winner of Stage 3
7. Maggie Reese
8. Tracy Deegan

Congratulations ladies and thanks again to Kippi for her match coverage!

As we countdown the days to the USPSA Handgun Nationals, we’d like to recap some of this year’s major championships starting with the first event of the season, the Smith & Wesson US Steel Shoot National Championships. Did you know that the Steel Challenge is now part of USPSA? Known as the fastest of the action shooting sports, there are eight challenging courses of fire at the Steel Challenge World Speed Shooting Championships.  In addition to the opportunity to win a world title, you can also shoot the S&W Steel Shoot Regional Series and US Steel Nationals.

There are just five steel plates in each Steel Challenge course of fire.  Competitors shoot each of the stages five times.  The best four  out of five scores are kept with the exception of the stage Outer Limits.  This stage is the only one with movement and competitors shoot Outer Limits four times with their top three runs kept for score.

In March, some of the best steel shooters in the country traveled to sunny Titusville, Florida for their chance to claim a national title.  The event started out with the Rimfire match.  Arguably the two best female steel shooters in the world, Jessie Abbate and Kay Miculek faced off with their .22 caliber pistols in the first of the three events.  Jessie posted impressive scores with a total time of 81.67 seconds earning her a 7th place finish overall in Rimfire Optic.  Kay was not far behind, placing 11th overall with a total time of 86.31.  Though she was the only woman to compete in Rimfire Iron, Randi Rogers shot impressive scores to earn her a top ten finish. With a total time of 104.04 seconds, Randi placed 8th overall in Rimfire Iron.

Day two, the women hit the range in the iron sight divisions.  Once again Jessie and Kay battled to earn the Limited Ladies National Title.  Jessie continued to put up top scores and posted a decisive lead over Kay by 21.45 seconds.  Jessie’s final time was 117.72 earning her 12th place in Limited.  Kay finished 24th and second lady with 139.17.  Randi continued to represent the women proudly in the Production division where she once again placed 8th overall with a total time of 131.50.

The final day, the women competed in Open. Known primarily as a stock gun shooter, Randi holstered up a race gun and finished 3rd Lady with a score of 134.06. Kay shot a 113.07, enough to earn her second place.  The winning streak in full momentum, Jessie finished at the top once again with a score of 103.03 and 12th overall.  Jessie’s domination in all three events earned her the 2009 Ladies Steel Master National Title.

Junior ladies also made a great showing in match.  Lena Miculek, daughter of shooting legends Jerry and Kay Miculek, earned top honors in Junior Female in both Rimfire Optic and Open. Ashley Bolda placed second behind her in both divisions.  Ashley also wrote about her match experience for Junior Shooter Magazine.  Alysa Janowicz was the High Junior Female in Rimfire Iron.

Check out the live streaming coverage from this year’s US Steel Shoot Nationals by our very own Sharyn Cohen. Congratulations to the winners and all the ladies competing in the event!  For more information about the Steel Challenge please visit steelchallenge.com.  For dates and details for the 2010 US Steel Shoot National Championships and Regional Series, visit ussteelshoot.com.